Kidney Transplant for Steve

I decided to post this email I received from my Mom's cousin Mike. Steve is his nephew. He has been updating us concerning the need for a transplant for Steve. If you you these last few emails you will see that Steve did receive the transplant and is progressing with his new kidney. If you are able to be prayful or help financially I know both areas would be appreciated. ~Jennifer



Dear Friends,

Good news. It seems the kidney is starting to work!! It is not yet fully functional but the doctors feel good that it will be soon. They said the body is showing no signs of rejecting the kidney so everything looks positive. Steve will continue to be on dialysis however until the kidney is fully functional. While Steve and the family are optimistic they all will breathe a sigh of relief when the kidney is fully functional. Let's hope it is soon. Don't stop praying!

Many of you have gotten back to me saying that although you couldn't donate one of your kidneys (because of having the wrong blood type, or couldn't get time off for work, etc) you did want to know if you could help out financially. The answer is YES.

Last year when Jim donated his kidney to Steve, Jim had put away $10,000 to cover the costs (hotel, food, transportation, etc.). It wasn't enough. They are still in debt from that experience. Now with this transplant occurring without warning only 1 year later, there was no time to save to get ready for it. Again, since it is out of town, the family has hotel, food and transportation expenses. So they definitely will need help. I think Insurance covers 80% of the medical expenses but that's all.

If you can send anything at all please send a check to:

Jim Scarduzio
4 Crofton Commons
Cherry Hill, NJ 08034

Please include a note that you are a friend of mine so they will know where you found out about their need.

Please forward this to your distribution list. They have been through so much and if a lot of people can send them money it would sure help.

Thank you so much for your help.


A. Mike Segalo



Dear Friends,

Late Monday afternoon my brother Jim got a call from New York (he lives in the Philadelphia area) saying that there might be a possible match for a kidney for Steve!! They said the kidney is coming in from another hospital and they think it might be a match. They said to get up to New York as soon as possible. They said you can't wait until we know for sure. You need to start coming up here within the hour and we will call you in your car to let you know whether to turn around and go back home or whether to continue coming here.

Steve was actually in dialysis at the time of the call so they had to wait until he got home before they could head up to New York. As they were driving they were told to keep coming because everything looked good. When Steve got to New York they took a blood sample and then they had to wait a couple of hours to see if the test showed that it was a match. The test came back positive! Then they decided that since Steve has been through so many situations where things have gone wrong they would do another test on him and the kidney. They were told that this would take 5 more hours. They just wanted to be absolutely sure. This test also came back positive!! It was a perfect match. So they took Steve into surgery around 8 AM Tuesday. They told Jim and Flori that they were going to take their time and make sure every possible thing was done to make this a success. The surgery normally takes about 5 hours. It actually took a little over 7 hours.

Now the next step of course is that the kidney needs to start working. Sometimes it starts right after surgery and sometimes it takes a few hours and sometimes it takes a few days. It is now about 22 hours after the surgery and the kidney has not yet started working.

Obviously we are all sitting on pins and needles right now. Please continue to pray for Steve that God will bless him and start the kidney so that it will work perfectly and for many years.

I will keep you posted on the progress.


Mike

Snow and more Snow

Last weekend was the ice storm that hit the Midwest. Being out the country with no ice salt or plows I end up stuck for a few days. My Mom has learned the value of a food pantry. She has enough food on the shelves to last a week or more. I find it funny to go into the city right before a storm and see how busy all the stores are. People seem to be in a panic at the idea of being caught at home a day or more.
The ice storm was a lot of fun since I was at home. Across the road is some property that has been divided into 3 acre lots to be sold. The gravel road through the development has been laid but none of the lots have sold yet. One section of the road goes down a good hill that my brother-in-law called Thunder Mountain. When Thunder Mountain is covered with ice I can tell you it is a lot of fun to go sledding down! We all had a blast though it is difficult to get up the hill again.:-) I’m looking forward to sledding down Thunder Mountain tomorrow evening.
The ice was not gone yet before our snow storm last night. We got 6" of snow where I live. I tried to get out of the driveway this morning but the snow was too deep. It is gorgeous. I love being in the country after a snow storm. I went outside and took pictures. We don’t seem to get a good 6" snow like this very often. The bad thing is church has been cancelled 2 weeks in a row due to the weather.

Learning from Thomas Edison

Last night I watched a DVD that was a biography of the life of Thomas Edison. I love history and learning about the lives people have lived intrigues me. As I was learning more about Thomas Edison several things came to me about his life. This man certainly had a gift from God. He was brilliant as an inventor. Thomas Edison was a hard worker with a spirit of endurance. He used failures to learn and apply to new inventions. Once he was working on a storage battery. He had experimented with this battery 10,000 times. Imagine being so persistent you continue trying at your goal 10,000 times! A friend was trying to encourage Thomas Edison after he had reached the 10,000 time. Thomas Edison replied, “I haven’t failed. I have simply found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
Thomas Edison became very wealthy, he was internationally famous. He had 3 months of formal schooling then was homeschooled by his mother the rest of his school years. Later in life he was given honorary degrees from several colleges.
For all the good things I could see in his life, such as perseverance, as I thought about Thomas Edison one scripture kept coming to mind. “For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and loose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? “ Mark 8:39 Thomas Edison was a man who made his work his life. He most certainly lost the hearts of his children. One of his daughters was 6 before she said she truly realized that yes, she did have a father. I have not found any indication that Thomas Edison was a man who walked with God. He gained everything men dream of in this world, only to loose it all when he stepped into eternity. To me that’s the most important lesson to learn. Intelligence without out God is like a piece of paper blowing in the wind. While you were holding onto it and able to read the paper you thought it was worth everything, once it blew out of your hand you were left with nothing. That’s what the things of this world bring. Happiness (so you think) while you are holding it. Once you step into eternity it’s gone and nothing will bring it back.

Chicken Alfredo Pizza-Yummy!

Chicken Alfredo Pizza
Spinach Alfredo base:
1 ½ cups light cream
¾ cup Parmesan Cheese, grated
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper
½ tsp. garlic powder
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. oregano
2-3 oz. fresh spinach leaf, chopped
1 pizza crust already baked ¾ time needed
The cream is heated to boiling then turn down to a simmer while the other ingredients are mixed in. Remove the mixture from the heat when it begins to thicken. Lightly coat 2 boneless chicken breast, cut into slivers, with flour and fry it lightly in olive oil and about 2 cloves of minced garlic. Spread a thin layer of Alfredo spinach sauce onto the pizza crust and top with thinly sliced tomatoes, garlic chicken, and mozzarella cheese. Bake for 15 minutes at 475 degrees.

The Everything History of the Bible

I found a neat book at the library on the New shelf. It the "The Everything History of the Bible" by Jeffery Donley. It was a fascinating book covering topics such as: uncovering Genesis, Dead Sea Scrolls, Archaelogy and the Crucifixion, the Mystery of Miracles, and Founders of Modern Science.

Throughout the book I learned a lot of things I didn't know anything about. In the modern science section I found it amazing once again to think on the modern philosphy concerning science. In modern thinking it is taught you can't have a brain, think, and be a scientist if you are a Christian. I guess only Darwinian scientist are the real brains capable of reason and discovery. Or so I've heard. The Modern Science chapter is an amazing rebuttal of that idea. Starting with the Scientific Revolution of 1600-1775 brief bio's of devoted Christian Scientist are given. These men were filled with a desire to discover the world and the laws ruling that world which they believed God had created. Some of the names you may well recognize: Johannes Kepler, Galieo Galilei, Sir Frances Bacon, Issac Newton, Blaise Pascal, William Herschel, Samuel Morse, Michael Faraday, Louis Pasteur, and Joseph Lister.

The short biography of Blasie Pascal gave a note about his famous challenge "Wager". I have never heard of it but I would like to try and find it. I have thought a lot about this challange he gave and can't find anything more worthy to think on than this.

"His famous challenge encourages individuals to consider that if one chooses to believe in Chriostianity and it is false, nothing is lost. But if one chooses to disbelieve in Christianity and it is true, then everything is lost."